Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Painting Project #4: The Bathroom

I was going to stop painting after the bedroom. But after I finished the bedroom, I decided the bathroom needed to be freshened up. I love the blue marble-looking counter in there and I was going to just repaint the walls light blue. That was the plan until I realized the ceiling would look dingy and decided to repaint that as well, leaving it a medium blue:

Before

I also decided I needed a new set for the bathroom, as I have been using a hybrid of the sets James and I both brought into the relationship, meaning they are at least 10 years old. I don't know how long he had his, but I had mine at least a couple of years before we met.

His was the blue; mine the black.

I wanted to go with a seashell theme but Bed, Bath and Beyond discontinued the one I liked and I have not been able to find another that I like anywhere else. I love Bed, Bath and Beyond and ultimately decided on their "Spa Leaf" collection.

Garbage can with top paint choices. I went with "Souvenir," the middle color on the left card.

I consulted my co-worker about my color choices and she convinced me that it would look really good if I painted the walls a darker blue and the ceiling white. The next time I let her talk me into something involving primer, she gets to come help, mainly so I have someone to keep me company while waiting for it to dry.

I got a later start on painting than I would have liked to and while I recognize this as a positive sign of moving forward, it was still bittersweet. First, I cleaned out James' drawer, which I have actually been doing a little at a time. Some of the things that were sitting on the counter are going to go in there and have already been put in their new home.

The second bittersweet moment came from realizing I was going to paint over the spackle marks. Several years ago, we stayed at a Best Western in Sacramento that had one of those shower curtain rods that bows out. It is amazing how much more room that gives you! We discovered you can get them at Bed, Bath and Beyond (I will seriously cry if they ever go out of business), and when we moved in we bought one. Well, James sort of drilled the holes in the wrong spots when he was putting it up which is why there was spackle on the walls. I smiled at the memory and fought back tears as I covered it up.

Putting the primer on the ceiling also recalled a memory: it was only 5 short years ago we spent Memorial Day weekend painting our house in Arizona. The house with a living room and den that we took from that obnoxious red everyone loves so much to a color that looks exactly like Parmesan cheese (and was aptly named "Parmesan") in the living room and sea foam in the den. We had so many coats of primer and paint covering it James said we lost square footage! It's hard to believe how different my life was then than it is now. It feels like that was a lifetime ago and like it happened to another person-and in many ways that is because it did.

I have mentioned before I am incredibly unobservant. Even still you would think that at some point in the last 4 1/2 years, I would have noticed the strip of wall between the vanity lights and the mirror was a different color, but no. Not me. I thought I never noticed it because the wood frame around the mirror was covering it (I took that off) but then I remembered the top piece came off within the first couple of weeks we were here and we never put it back up.

It's a little hard to see but right under the lights the wall is white, not blue. It is all one color now.

Old vs. new with the ceiling finished

The boys inspect my handiwork. This was definitely not my neatest paint job!

Finished!

With the new shower curtain in place.

Because of having to wait for the primer and then the ceiling to dry, it took FOREVER to finish and I was pretty cranky by the time I was finally done. It looks a lot brighter in the pictures than it really is and I really do like it. I am collecting coupons and getting the pieces for the new set as I get them. There aren't that many pieces to it, so I should have them soon. I also bought a cute shelf at Michael's yesterday that I am going to paint white and put up above the toilet for the things on the counter I don't use that often but don't currently have another place to live. I'm proud of myself for taking yet another step in making the house mine as opposed to ours but I have to say, I think the painting bug may finally be out of my system.

About Me

I started blogging not long after my world was completely shattered when my fiance unexpectedly passed away. Seven years later, I feel I've put most of the pieces back together and am not working on pursuing those things which make me truly happy.